Drive Enclosures With Thunderbolt 3 Ports
It was a rocky start waiting for fully Apple compatible Type-C Thunderbolt 3 drive cases, enclosures and docks. Many PC and Mac users want to build their own ThunderBolt 3 backup drive using the off-the-shelf SSD solid-state drives or modules of their preference. Drive enclosure manufacturers quickly switched to the Type-C port for USB 3.1 based drives, but fewer companies are offering full 40Gbps chipset Thunderbolt3 SSD enclosures.NOTE: These current enclosures (like most drives) are Thunderbolt 3 *ONLY*. It takes Intel's newest chipset inside a drive or enclosure to support use with EITHER TB3 or USB 3.1 protocols.
M.2 NVMe PCIe Thunderbolt 3 Enclosures
Low-Cost OWC Thunderbolt 3 SSD Enclosure
For 2280 NVMe PCIe SSD Modules
Though not the fastest DIY Thunderbolt 3 enclosure, the OWC Envoy Express case with integrated 10.2" TB3 cable delivers up to 1553MB/s read speeds for well under $100USD.
Trebleet PCIe SSD Enclosure
For 2280 M.2 SSD Modules
Trebleet's Thunderbolt 3 SSD enclosure delivers higher Read speeds peaking up to 2800 MB/s depending on 3rd party PCIe 3.0 module used. See chart on product listing page for MacOS compatible SSD blades they recommend.
M.2 PCIe SSD Drive Case
Aluminum Case With Silicone Protector
While the 1st-generation 10Gbps ThunderBolt storage market made a fairly painless and quick transition to 2nd-generation 20Gbps Thunderbolt 2 chipsets, the transition to TBolt3 was more complex. It's invovled changing from the mini-DisplayPort port interface to Type-C connectors. Major modifications to the PCB - Printed Circuit Board are needed to accommodate next-gen 40Gbps Type-C Thunderbolt 3 chipsets and spec-certified component modifications to operate reliably at such high data transfer rates.
OWC Thunderbolt 3 Enclosures
Case with Thunderbolt 3 Dock Features
Multi Device Support + SD Card Reader
This 40Gbps Type-C Thunderbolt 3 dual-bay external drive case designed for both 2.5" SSDs where speed is the primary concern, or 3.5" full-size HDD hard drives for those who want to maximize the storage capacity. A durable dark aluminum casing provides excellent heat dissipation. It also has a large rear fan to keep the drives cooler for reliability and longer life. It combines the latest generation Type-C Thunderbolt 3 interface in combination with SATA III SSD drives that can be configured as a hardware RAID 0, RAID 1, SPAN or Non-RAID disks. OWC's Thunder 3 RAID enclosure delivers fast Read/Write throughput. The Thunder 3 also features dual, daisy-chainable Type-C Thunderbolt 3 Ports, an SD card reader, USB 3 Port and DisplayPort for other ThunderBolt 3 peripherals and displays.
4 2.5" or 3.5" SATA HDD or SSD Drive Bays
Thunderbolt 3 RAID Enclosures
Hardware RAID, 3.5/2.5" SATA Drive Support
OWC 4-Drive Thunderbolt3 Enclosure
Quad 2.5" or 3.5" SATA III Drive Bays
OWC offers a similar Type-C Thunderbolt 3 enclosure with software RAID and JBOD configuration flexibility. You could configure a multi-drive striped RAID 0 array for maximum, high-performance or in a RAID 1 config for data-redundancy. With four drive bays at your disposal you can opt to install hard drives, SSDs, or a combination of both. One might setup their TB3 case withg two or three drives using a sofrware RAID app, but perhaps leave any remaining drives in independent JBOD mode, or setup two dual drive software RAIDs.
ThunderBolt 3 PCIe SSD Card Chassis
A growing range of PCI card ThunderBolt3 chassis open the possibility of quickly assembling a high-speed ThunderBolt3 SSD drive with off the shelf PCIe solid-state drives like the Intel 750. There are many other PCI cards that support a wide variety of mSATA, M.2, SATA III and other drives/modules of your choosing.
Affordable ThunderBolt 3 Enclosure With Many Drive Card Choices
Intel 750 PCIe NVMe SSD Card
800GB 4-Lane PCIe Storage
Oyen Digital Thunderbolt 3 'Compatible' SSD RAID Enclosure
Many manufacturers are marketing thier USB 3.1 Type-C drive storage hardware as "Thunderbolt 3 Compatible" which it is - since a TBolt 3 computer port transmits both Thunderbolt AND USB 3.1 protocols. For many users the 10Gbps speeds of USB 3.1 Gen2 will be more than fast enough and save significant money over the price-premium enclosures with Thunderbolt3 chipsets have.
Dual 2.5" SSD Bays - USB 3.1 Type-C Connection
Above we see Oyen Digital's affordable dual SATA III SSD enclosure which lets you pair your choice of 2.5" laptop SSD's into a fast and affordable external Thunderbolt3 'compatible' backup drive solution. It's a hardware RAID with switch-selectable JBOD (Independent), RAID 0 (Striped), RAID 1 (Mirrored) or Big (Combined) modes for optimal configuration for your particular needs.